Brand Conflict

Brand extension is an area of controversy and there are different views as to its efficacy. One of the most successful companies that employ a brand extension strategy is Virgin. However, there have been concerns that the brand has been over-extended and that Virgin Atlantic's high quality image will be affected by Virgin Express' cheap and cheerful image. The purpose of this research is to investigate whether the concerns for a brand conflict between Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Express are justified. In order to achieve the above aim, consumers' evaluations for these airlines on Virgin's brand values will be measured. In addition, the research investigates whether the experience in one of them is affecting consumers' expectations for the other. To reinforce the conclusions of this research, Virgin Trains has also been included in the study, since similar concerns to Virgin Express, of diluting the Virgin brand and effecting negatively Virgin Atlantic have been expressed. The thesis concludes that a brand conflict does exist between Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Express since these airlines are evaluated significantly differently on Virgin's high quality brand value.

Autorentext

Dr Konstantinos Kalligiannis is an aviation consultant, an airport planner and a visiting lecturer in aviation. Dr Keith Mason is the Director of the Business Travel Research Centre and a Senior Lecturer at Cranfield University.